So I picked up a few things at Record Store day this year. A couple of promo items for the big day as well as a few classic LPs. It was nice seeing the record store so busy. Even kind of felt bad for the hippy all bummed out that the PHISH release was all sold out.

CAUSE FOR ALARM s/t 7” – Classic early NYHC. This is a repress of this highly sought after 7”, and it is on red vinyl. Incredibly influential band…C’mon, AGOSTIC FRONT even titled an album after them!

OZZY OSBOURNE / Believer (live) 7” picture disc – Classic Ozzy from the Randy era and as a tribute to the guitar legend it is a polka dot picture disc. Pretty cool.

BLACK SABBATH / Eternal Idol – Was never really a fan of the Tony Martin era SABBATH stuff but after reading Tony Iommi’s book I gained a new respect for the overlooked albums and singer. The song the shining, although pop-hook heavy, is badass. The rest of the album is quality hard rock/heavy metal. Hard to find on vinyl!

BLACK SABBATH / Technical Ecstasy – I have this on cassette so I thought it was time to replace it with the vinyl. This is probably the worst album of the Ozzy years, a few good songs but only really necessary if you are a die-hard SABBATH fan.

BOSTON / Don’t Look Back – In the early 80’s before I discovered Heavy Metal I was really into KISS and BOSTON. For me it was BOSTON’s sophomore effort ‘Don’t Look Back’ that hooked me on this band and their early efforts. Don’t get me wrong, the first album is essential but this was my introduction to them as heard from a cassette that was left behind by a friend of my parents.

I hit the Profane Existence sale again and picked up these beauties:

DESCENT TO HELL – Brutal metallic crust…Right up alley. What I really like about these guys is that they are not all blown out and really embrace their metal influence. The vocals are hard yet, for the most part, decipherable. There are gang choruses and ripping guitar leads. Right on!

GOVERNMENT ISSUE s/t first LP – By this time the band had already started to stray from straight up hardcore but there is something to be said for those LPs (this one, Joyride and Crash). They were different, catchy and really remind me of a particular time in my adolescence.

AMEBIX / Knight of the Black Sun 12” single – When this was first released I didn’t think it was worth the money. 1 song…really? Especially since the song was going to be included on the full length anyway. But now that the price had been slashed to $5 how could I resist? Plus the B side as a really cool etching of the Crowley/AMEBIX face.

Other stuff I’ve grabbed:

SEX PISTOLS / Never Mind the Bollocks – This came up on my Ipod and I realized two things: 1)I hadn’t listened to this in about 20 years and 2) It kicks ass! So it was off to Black N Read to seek out a vinyl copy. Low behold I scored it on pink vinyl.

CRUDE SS / Who’ll Survive 7” – I buy records from this dude in Europe often enough and this was on his recent list. A repress but still hard to come by, especially for the price I picked it up for. Classic Swedish hardcore punk.